Northwestern Michigan College began its transition from Moodle to Canvas last fall, with 16 instructors and slightly more than 600 students participating in a pilot program that encompassed 34 courses administered through the Canvas learning platform. At the conclusion of the fall pilot, students were asked to evaluate their Canvas learning experience, and the results were overwhelmingly positive.

Of the 328 students who responded to the question, “How effective did you find Canvas for accessing course materials, completing activities, etc.?” an impressive 75% rated it as “very effective” or “effective,” while only 8% found it “ineffective” or “very ineffective” (16% were “neutral”). The Educational Technology department was thrilled by this response, especially considering that many of the pilot instructors were using Canvas for the first time and learning the platform “on the fly.” Remarkably, not a single help desk ticket was submitted in the fall by a student asking how to use Canvas.

Students who left comments about their Canvas experience wrote positively about the transition. While a small number of students mentioned missing Moodle, the majority of comments praised Canvas. Of the 216 evaluation comments, the word “easy” appeared repeatedly, emphasizing Canvas’ usability. Here are some standout comments:

• “When I first started using it, I was a little confused by the differences from Moodle, but once I got used to it, I found it easy to understand because the contents are separated in each section, and it is very well organized.”
• “This specific instructor utilized Canvas in a way that was easy to navigate and very helpful. Overall, Canvas was fairly user-friendly and can be great depending on how the instructor decides to set up their particular class.”
• “I love using Canvas because it puts everything you need to do in one place. I don’t have to fish around for an assignment that isn’t listed on my dashboard—I can just go straight to the unit and find it there. There is way too much to type here, but I welcome the change from Moodle to Canvas!”
• “As someone who has used Canvas in the past, it works much better than Moodle does for anything. Moodle frequently feels cluttered while also hiding information behind what feels like five separate menus.”
• “As with any transition, I found the beginning difficult, as navigating Canvas was foreign to me. However, with some time and questions, Canvas has proved to be just as easy to navigate as Moodle.”
• “Canvas had a much better UI [user interface] than Moodle and I also much prefer the grading area in Canvas.”
• “Canvas is far more linear than Moodle. Moodle’s organization made more sense as far as a filing system goes. There are some irritating bugs with Canvas, such as scrolling sticking upon choosing a section to go to. Navigation isn’t nearly as fluid. There’s less color. Its response time is significantly slower.”
• “Canvas was AMAZING. I loved using Canvas, and navigating it was so simple and user-friendly. Moodle was a pain because I often got lost in all of the links and information and missed assignments. With Canvas, it is all organized, and submitting assignments was unbelievably simple!”
• “Canvas was easy to use and navigate and was very helpful. I had no problems with Canvas.”
• “I did enjoy the Canvas application. I enjoyed how easy it was to find grades and each module. I also found the calendar very helpful. The only issue is that because it was the only class on Canvas it was very easy to lose track of and forget about.”
• “I find that Canvas is easier to navigate, and the layout is better and more updated than Moodle. I have used Canvas at previous Universities and enjoyed it.”
• “I have used Canvas before at a different college and I have always found it to run smooth and is laid out clearly.”

Several students noted that, as a “new platform, the teacher was learning it too,” and that “It will be better when [instructors] work with it more.” That hopeful outlook will be put to the test this spring, as the pilot program has expanded significantly for the current semester, with over 240 courses now being taught using Canvas. While summer courses will still have the option of using Moodle, all NMC courses will transition fully to Canvas in the fall of 2025, with the Moodle server scheduled for shutdown this August. If the pilot program’s student evaluations are any indication, the college’s Moodle-to-Canvas transition may prove to be far more enjoyable than challenging.